State lawmakers in Indiana are considering a bill that would allow religious institutions that receive government contracts to make hiring decisions based on religion, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Seeking to give Californians more say in how their blood samples are used if held in the state’s biobank of DNA, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) has proposed a law to strengthen the notice requirements given to parents when dried blood samples...

The La Cañada Flintridge City Council approved a revised filming ordinance Tuesday, amid protests from a group of local residents who claim the new regulations favor households that frequently film over their production-weary neighbors.
The 3-1 vote...

Lawmakers in Michigan are considering passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a bill that would legally protect people from practicing “sincerely held religious beliefs,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
Critics of the bill...

Pawnbrokers, junk peddlers and second-hand dealers will have to undergo more rigorous back checks by police before receiving a license, according to an ordinance change approved by Burbank City Council last week.
The ordinance, which passed in a 4-0 vote...

Public officials in California would have to disclose more about their investments and who they do business with under a state Assembly bill introduced Monday as the legislature began a new session.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) introduced the measure, which would update and amend the state’s law requiring public officials to report their financial interests.
The measure would require officials who are invested in a business entity to “provide a thorough and detailed description”...

A bill that prohibits school administrators from expelling students if they willfully defy educators, set to take effect next year, was panned by Burbank school officials last week.
Introduced by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento), the bill aims to lessen the number of suspensions and expulsions of students.
Come January, administrators will not be able to suspend a student in kindergarten through third grades or recommend an expulsion for students in first through 12th grades if those...

A member of the state Assembly, Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) successfully carried a bill through legislation this year that he hopes will put the brakes on school officials who excessively take advantage of a portion of state education code that allows them to suspend students for willful defiance.
Dickinson’s bill, which goes into effect Jan. 1, amends the education code to the effect that students in kindergarten through third grade cannot be suspended for defying instructions from an...

A few times each week, La Cañada dog owner Scott Heaton grabs a leash and heads for the city's Cross Town Trail with companion Sole, an 8-year-old retriever, in tow.
He wouldn't think of doing anything differently, like walking Sole without a leash, for example.
"A, it's the law," Heaton said during a recent morning walk on the trail, which intersects Foothill Boulevard just north of Indiana Avenue. "And B, you just don't know how dogs are going to react to something."
But fellow visitors to the...

Letting local voters know he’s listening, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) made La Cañada Flintridge a destination on the campaign trail on the night of Oct. 9, speaking at a town hall forum at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA in advance of the Nov. 4 election.
Although the city’s 20,553 residents account for just 4% of the 43rd Assembly District’s 500,000 constituents, Gatto told an intimate crowd of about 20 local residents he was committed to answering any and all questions they might...

When school was in session at Walt Disney Elementary between August 2013 and June 2014, roughly 30 crimes occurred in the vicinity near the school including grand theft, battery and public intoxication.
The statistics tallied by the Burbank Police Department are now part of that school’s safety plan, and school officials are creating similar documents for each of Burbank’s 20 schools under a recent effort to revamp safety procedures on campuses.
Last April, the school district’s safety...

President Obama plans to announce Friday that he will set aside roughly half of the San Gabriel Mountains as a national monument, bringing stronger federal protections to the range to shield it from crowding and pollution, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Obama will designate about 350,000 acres of public land in the Angeles National Forest as the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, officials said. It will be the 11th time Obama has used his executive powers to establish or expand a national...